Neeraj Bawana gang member held in encounter: Police

A 21-year-old wanted man was arrested after an alleged encounter with the Delhi Police’s Special Cell near Mundka Industrial Area in outer Delhi On Saturday

A 21-year-old wanted man was arrested after an alleged encounter with the Delhi Police’s Special Cell near Mundka Industrial Area in outer Delhi On Saturday.

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The suspect, Kamal Gehlot, is allegedly a member of a criminal gang led by jailed gangsters Neeaj Bawana and Naveen Bali.

Gehlot was wanted in connection with the murder of his rival. He allegedly killed him firing three bullets into his head and face in a residential neighbourhood near Nawada Housing Complex in October last year, the police said.

In Saturday’s encounter, at least four bullets were fired in which Gehlot was hit in his leg.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said that the team received information that Gehlot would travel to Mohan Garden in a white car via Mundka Industrial Area Metro station after midnight. Accordingly, a trap was laid.

Around 2 am, the DCP said, the team spotted the car and ordered its driver to stop. But instead, the driver fired two bullets at the police personnel in a bid to escape. “One bullet hit head constable Lokendra Singh’s bulletproof vest. Our team members fired two bullets in self defence, one of which hit the suspect, Kamal Gehlot’s left leg,” said Yadav, adding that a pistol and a revolver were seized from Gehlot along with six cartridges.

The injured suspect, previously involved in three cases of robbery and murder, was taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention. His condition was stable, the police said.

A resident of Delhi’s Nawada, Gehlot’s father Pawan Gehlot is a property dealer with an office in Uttam Nagar. Pawan’s brother Praveen Gehlot was an active member of a gang led by jailed gangsters Manjeet Mahal and Pradeep Solanki and also allegedly involved in property grabbing, said DCP Yadav.

“After the arrests of Mahal and Solanki, some dispute arose between Praveen and Solanki over a property. Solanki used his hitman, Vikas Dalal, to kill Praveen in May 2019. Since Kamal Gehlot was close to his uncle, he decided to take revenge,” said the DCP.

While lodged in Tihar jail in two robbery cases, Gehlot joined Bawana and Bali who were in the same jail. After coming out of the jail, Gehlot and his father killed a person named Vikas Mehta in October, as they suspected he was involved in Praveen’s murder. Mehta’s murder was captured in a CCTV camera and its footage had gone viral on social media.

In the 18-second video clip, the alleged killer in yellow t-shirt and a white towel around his mouth is seen chasing a man with a gun in his hand. The two come in a lane where the CCTV is installed. The suspect fires a bullet at the man who is looking towards him and walking backward with a red helmet in his left forearm.

The bullets pierce the man’s left eye and he falls on the ground. The suspect first walks back but returns and pumps at least two more bullets in his right eye and forehead. He then takes out a cellphone from his pants pocket and takes the bleeding man’s photograph before leaving the crime scene, the footage shows.

Pawan was arrested five days after Mehta’s murder while his son was absconding, the police said.